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The encyclopedia · Software & IT · Operational decision · 2025–

MatchLog matched an emptied container to a nearby load before it went back

MatchLog's STinder pairs an import's empty container with a nearby export, turning a 34-day empty repositioning into a 4-day productive turn.

MatchLog · Pacific International Lines (PIL)

the move

A container emptied at one port often has to be trucked back to a depot and later moved again to the next shipper, and this empty repositioning is one of the largest avoidable costs in box shipping. The inefficiency is not the box, it is the matching.

MatchLog's STinder treats containers like a matching problem. It pairs an import's just-emptied container with a nearby export, coordinating through ports, Street Turn Yards and inland nodes with rule-based allocation and real-time transport visibility, so the box is reused instead of returned to a depot to sit.

Working with Pacific International Lines in Singapore and India, the platform claimed to cut container turnaround from 34 days to 4 days, reduce empty runs, and lower freight cost and carbon. The engine pulls more productive cycles from boxes the industry already owns.

why it works

  • Matching empties avoids paying to ship a box back to a depot.
  • The same box serves both an import and an export leg.
  • Rules and real-time data make street-turns reliable at scale.
  • Fewer empty moves cut freight cost and emissions together.
the payoffMatch the empty box to the next shipper before it returnsclever

what transfers

The cheapest container is one you never reposition; connect demand to the empty asset before it travels, and both turnaround time and freight cost drop.

what came after

MatchLog scaled its container-reuse platform with Pacific International Lines in Singapore and India, and framed the win as 'getting more from the boxes it already owns'. Street-turning had long been done informally by hand; the platform's contribution was making it repeatable, rule-based and visible, though its measured benefit depends on local matching density.

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